US electoral system one of the worst in the world

[Arwon]

I see no problem with 2 hour waits

Um. Really?

That seems a little Stockholmy.

 

[Arwon]

I should also point out that frequently the long queues are concentrated in crowded low income areas, serving as a systemic depressant on turnout in those areas. Mightn't happen in Missouri but it certainly happens in other parts of the US, and possibly in the UK too. If booths are placed simply at an even geographical spread this is the nearly inevitable consequence.

 

[uppi]

Honestly? I couldn't care less what other states, provinces, and countries do as it relates to Missouri. Our elections are fine as they are, occasional 2-hour wait included. I don't think that in any way makes it a bad election process or something to look at for improving. Most parts of the day would see the bulk of extra voting booths being unused, so that's just stupid wasteful spending to have a massive excess just to deal with a one time peak at the end of the day.

Yeah, a pencil and some piece of cardboard to shield the voter from the others cost like $5 or so. Ok, it is the government buying, so $10. I'd hate to see that go unused for half the day.

With the money the candidates spend on advertising you could almost buy every voter their own personal booth.

Organizing elections is not that hard. But somehow the Americans still manage to sometimes spectacularly fail at it.

 

[Camikaze]

The questions are, "Is is better to have fifeen minutes or two hours wait?" and "If other states, provinces, countries, etc, can do it, why can't we?".

And, "why should people have to inconvenience themselves to vote?", specifically, "why should people have to stand in a queue for two hours to vote on election day?"

 

[potatokiosk]

News flash to the rest of the world. Ohio is not the United States. It is one state among 50 and to suggest that because Ohio sucks the rest suck shows a complete lack of understanding of the United States, thereby totally invalidating those foreign opinions. There is no such thing as a "US electoral system" unless they are specifically talking about the Electoral College, which really doesn't have any bearing on polling stations.

Ohio could easily end up deciding the upcoming presidential election. If Ohio sucks, the whole system of electing a president sucks.

 

[Leifmk]

Some of the nations that use electronic voting (with rank on the democracy index):

1 Norway

Nope, not really. Limited tests have been carried out in recent municipal elections -- last year's election allowed for e-voting in 10 out of 429 disctricts. Otherwise it's all paper ballots everywhere as it has been since the concept of secret voting began. I've skimmed through the official post-mortem report for that latest round of testing and the verdict so far seems to be "it seems to work reliably enough but probably didn't have any effect on voter turnout and won't be any cheaper to implement than paper ballots" and the main question at this point is whether they'll run more rounds of testing in future elections or just quietly forget about the whole thing.

 

[Ailedhoo]

I see no problem with 2 hour waits, though, so why should I care about having anything done to alleviate that? Again, if people do not care enough about their country to be willing to sacrifice that much time once every four years, maybe they should just not bother voting because frankly they don't care enough to begin with.

Belive it or not people tend to be busy... and no I am not talking about entertainment. Effeciency is a important thing of consideration. People may have to get to the store to buy needed supplies. Those with children have to take things in consideration. What of the person who has a event occure that means they have to leave the line and face the prospect of returning to the begining of this "willing to sacrifice that much time" line? Ensuring voting is easier to conduct is a method of enchancing democracy, not making it increased hassel. Hence why the ID laws that are being introduced in certains states are a contribution to the thread title by denying a significant number of the population the right to vote because they lack ID due to one reason or another.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

I see no problem with 2 hour waits, though, so why should I care about having anything done to alleviate that?

You shouldn't, since you see no problem.

Duh!

Again, if people do not care enough about their country to be willing to sacrifice that much time once every four years, maybe they should just not bother voting because frankly they don't care enough to begin with.

But now you're projecting. How much time should one be willing to sacrifice in order for one to be caring enough oh frank one?

As they may have said in Russia, if you don't want to wait for 2 hours to buy a loaf of bread, you're not hungry enough.

 

[dutchfire]

Again, if people do not care enough about their country to be willing to sacrifice that much time pay a poll tax once every four years, maybe they should just not bother voting because frankly they don't care enough to begin with.

Fixed that for you

 

[woody60707]

At what point isn't it a poll tax, to get an ID, the $2.25 for the bus fare?

 

[bhsup]

Waiting in line is not in any way comparable to any poll tax at all.

Oh sure, you can say "my time is valuable to me" but you can say it all you want and it won't make it a legitimate argument. You sleep and you don't get paid for it, you go to movies and don't get paid for it, and so forth and so on.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Do you have any idea how much I hate waiting?

 

[bhsup]

I hate paying taxes, but it is kind of necessary for a functioning government, yes? Another of those civic duties.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Well, I guess that means the 2 hour wait is as unavoidable as paying taxes for a functioning government.

 

[dutchfire]

Waiting in line is not in any way comparable to any poll tax at all.

Oh sure, you can say "my time is valuable to me" but you can say it all you want and it won't make it a legitimate argument. You sleep and you don't get paid for it, you go to movies and don't get paid for it, and so forth and so on.

I hate paying taxes, but it is kind of necessary for a functioning government, yes? Another of those civic duties.

Are you compairing waiting in line with a tax?

Seriously, I don't see the difference between a poll tax payed in cash, or by requiring a similar contribution in kind/in time. Your argument is similar to saying that it wouldn't be a poll tax if we required every citizen to give a sandwich to the state, since sometimes people get a free sandwich from their mom, therefore sandwiches aren't valuable.

 

[bhsup]

No, I just refuse to acknowledge "time is money" arguments. They're completely bull. You want to get paid for something? Be on the clock for a job. Voting is not a job, it is a civic duty.

 

[metatron]

No, I just refuse to acknowledge "time is money" arguments. They're completely bull. You want to get paid for something? Be on the clock for a job. Voting is not a job, it is a civic duty.

Hmm... but for many of the people standing in line the connection isn't abstract at all. Many of them literally take half a day off from work in order to vote, solely for the reason of it taking hours instead of, you know, three minutes.

 

[bhsup]

Then they should have arranged for an absentee ballot ahead of time, as I stated above in a previous post.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

They should also include an obstacle course so you can prove to the nation whether you care enough to vote. It would need to include ramps of course to cater to the disabled.

 

[bhsup]

Hey, I get it okay? If you guys think the government should spend ludicrous amounts of money to make voting as ridiculously simple for everyone and prevent all conceivable disruptions in their lives for performing a civic duty, that's fine. That's your view and that's okay. I just happen to disagree.